Could the color of your fat be the culprit behind your struggle with weight loss? It’s a possibility, according to research recently presented at the 73rd meeting of the American Diabetes Association in Chicago this year.
Turns out, we have two kinds of fat, white and brown, each with a different function, reports news source Medical News Today. The white version we’re all familiar with: It’s our energy reserve. This is the fat that we tend to overcollect and store from eating more calories than we need. Brown fat has a different role in the body: It uses calories to create body heat. It’s no surprise, then to learn from MNT that those of us with a higher proportion of brown fat tend to be thinner and may even stay warmer during the colder months. The question is, is it possible to turn that white fat brown? According to this study, yes, and simply exercising may be the answer.
Of Mice & Men
Researchers studied men who followed a 12-week bicycle exercise program as well as mice who trained for 11 days on an exercise wheel. They report that exercise influenced white fat to turn brown, which was more “metabolically active,” reports MNT.
According to researcher Kristin Stanford, PhD, Joslin Diabetes Center, Boston, their results demonstrate that exercise isn’t good just for muscle development and tone, it’s also beneficial for fat. “It's clear that when fat gets trained, it becomes browner and more metabolically active. We think there are factors being released into the bloodstream from the healthier fat that are working on other tissues,” MNT quotes.
Taking these findings one step further, researchers report transplanting the brown fat from “healthy” mice to sedentary mice with a significant amount of white fat in order to evaluate if and how brown fat might influence glucose function. MNT reports that the result was a 3-month minimum of enhanced glucose and insulin tolerability in mice donors. As for testing in humans, the question still remains.
Active Answers
What this research does indicate, however, is that exercise is important—and it may even do more good than we already know it does. Laurie Goodyear, PhD, Harvard, and senior investigator of one study, effectively sums it up: “...What we’re showing here is that fat changes dramatically in response to exercise training and is having good metabolic effects.”
Who can argue with that? Even if you don’t lose the weight, chances are that you’re going to be activating those fat cells and influencing your metabolism to work harder and smarter.
As for any unwanted fat that may remain, there’s always help to be had in the hands of an experienced liposuction doctor. We all need a little support now and again, and the experts are here to help!